~~~~? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~.
Thank you for sheltering us, Your Majesty, Glutas.

What? A fellow countryman. No need to be afraid. Lerigus, prepare rooms for these men.

Yes, Lord Glutas.

　Baron Mangus is taken by Glutus' aide, Religas, who is being taken away by the Baron of Mangus. No, he wasn't a baron anymore.

''Lord Glutas. Why are you hiding Baron Mangus, who is now being driven from the kingdom?''

　I ask because I'm curious, and Grutas looks at me and snickers.

'He's a rare user of dark magic, you know. He only hides it because he thinks it has some use. If it comes down to it, you can cut him down and hand him over to Raymond. So what's going on in the school?

Yes, sir. Those who follow my instructions are assembling their people.

Yeah. Then you'll just keep going. Kukkuu, I have just received word that the Imperials are ready to march on their side. I've heard that the Imperials are ready to march on Lanwalker's territory at the start of the year. We'll move in line with that. I want you to be ready in time for that. If you're successful, I'll even spare your mother.

Okay.

　........I leave the room without changing my expression. I go straight to a certain room. Two soldiers are standing at the entrance and are being closely guarded, but as I approach, the soldiers don't seem particularly bothered by the fact that I just glanced at them.

　Then I enter the room and inside there is a woman sleeping on a bed and a maidservant taking care of the woman's personal affairs. This maidservant was your mother's maid who had been sleeping in the bed for some time and was brought in with her.

'Ah, Lady Tigris, good evening,'

Oh, good evening, Martha. How's your mother?

He's been bedridden with a fever today.

　Martha turns her head down. One day your mother suddenly became ill and collapsed. Father called several doctors to examine her, but all of them were unsure of what to do.

　Mother's condition worsens day by day as she is attacked by this unexplained disease. We were at our wits' end when Grutas came to us.

　Glutas would become your father's cousin. Because His Majesty King Raymond, the current king, and Glutas's father, the former king, and my grandfather are brothers. But we hadn't had much contact with each other at all in recent years.

　If you ask me why Gultus came just at this time, he says he came to treat your mother. I should have realized it at this time, but we were already set up from this point on.

　The wizard, Ains, whom Glutus had brought with him, had treated your mother better than before, but he was the only one who could do so now.

　Therefore, your father follows Glutas. Because one of the conditions of having Ains treated was that he would listen to Glutas' instructions.

　Originally, this matter must be told to His Majesty Raymond at once. Because the instructions this man gives will lead to an incident that will shake this country. But neither he nor I could let him do it. That would disqualify you from being a nobleman.

"...Master Tigris, are you all right?

　I turn my face down, and Martha looks at me with concern. She doesn't know anything about it. I can't involve her in coming here for your mother's sake.

'I'm just a bit tired, that's all. So take care of your mother then.

Yes, I'll take care of it.

　I'm going to leave the room. If only I could find a way to cure your mother, I wouldn't have to listen to that man's instructions. Worst-case scenario, I'll kill that man, even if it kills me. That's my responsibility for bringing this situation about. I went back to my room with that thought in mind.

　◇ ◇ ◇ ◇.

Cyril!

　Ekla is excited to see the view from the carriage window. Is she happy about the unusual view?

'Wow!　Don't get out of control, Ekla!

　It looks like Mei is having a hard time holding it. The view of the royal city from the window must be unusual. I'll let her enjoy it for now.

　It had been almost two weeks since we left Baron Mangs' territory. After Alexia returned, the deputies arrived as planned, and we left after seeing that Mr. Benton, the family orderly, took over.

　Following them were Viscount Kenus, who had been called to King's Landing, Alma, who was in love with Dagris, and the baronesses and their children, who had been banished from the barony.

　The women who rescued them from the bandits stayed behind in the barony to either make a new life in the barony or to find work in the barony. Some of the women were lucky that they got on good terms with the soldiers and so on.

　The baronesses are apparently arranging for the king to be able to live in secret. This is what I heard from the deputies who came later.

　Well, this time it's all the baron's fault. It's not like he wasn't involved because his wife was sick in bed. Ostensibly, he had to be judged, and the king's consideration that it wouldn't have been good if he had stayed in the territory like that.

　Mr. Benton also said that he would follow Mrs. Benton once he finished handing over to the deputy. Mrs. Benton seemed happy, so it was probably a good thing.

　While all this was going on, we left the barony. The past two weeks have gone smoothly without being attacked by goblins, and we've come within sight of the royal capital from a while ago. ........I don't want to see goblins for the time being.

　For the carriage, Viscount Kenus prepared a carriage that is a bit bigger, with seating for 8 people, and inside the carriage are me and Mei, Ekla being held by Mei, Alexia, Helen, Aeris, Ferris, Pricia and Roy sitting in the carriage.

　When we got in the carriage, there was an agony over who would sit next to me, but at my direction, I made Roy and May sit in the carriage. They were all boo-boos and angry, but this was better than fighting every time we got in the carriage. After all, we'd be together in a small carriage, after all. When I told that to the ladies, though, they were angry that I didn't understand the heart of a woman.

　Roy and Ekla are quite excited about Pricia and Mei-chan coming to the royal capital for the first time.

　Although there was an accident when May grabbed Ekla, who almost fell out of the window, and even May almost fell out of the window, they reached the royal palace safely.

　According to Alexia's story, she had been asked to come straight to the royal palace when she returned. The soldiers may have listened to the story, and after exchanging a word or two with you, they easily let me through. Well, I was showing them something like a pass.

"........Isn't the surroundings strange?

　When we enter the palace, for some reason the soldiers tell us to close the windows of the carriage and we are rocked as it is. I've been here in a carriage before, but I've never been told to do that before, so I wonder.

'Oh, really?'

　But Alexia and the others don't seem to be particularly bothered by it, and they're just being normal. No, they're smiling a bit, so they know what's going on?　

　Moreover, the carriage is still moving, even though it would normally have already arrived and stopped.

''Kyru~''

　Ekla is a little unhappy because she's hidden the view from the window. Pricia and the others are also tilting their heads in wonderment.

　After that, they continue to be rocked by the carriage for several minutes. When I started to feel strange as expected and was thinking of getting out of the carriage, the carriage finally stopped. It was then opened from the outside and a soldier urged me to get down.

'Come on, let's get down,'

　Alexia smiled and took my hand and went down with me, and there it was.....